HILLSBOROUGH: Sports complex with two domes proposed for Hillsborough Road

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Apex Sports and Events wants to build a state-of-the art athletic and recreation facility on 19.6 acres on Hillsborough Road.
The 181,395-square-foot facility would feature two air-inflated domes — one reaching about eight stories high — and have the potential to attract perhaps 3,000 people a day, says information filed with the application.
The facility is targeted for year-round sports leagues, team training, children’s parties and events, tournaments, banquets, trade shows (like team apparel and equipment) and graduation ceremonies.
The project is proposed on the north side of Hillsborough Road, east of the Route 206 bypass about three-quarters of a mile west of Willow Road.
Extrapolating usage from the nearby Branchburg Sports Complex, a study filed with the application estimates the site could attract 3,000 daily visitors.
Apex is scheduled to come before the zoning Board of Adjustment on Wednesday night, Jan. 20.
The application is in two phases. The zoning board is first being asked to decide if such a facility can be located in the area zoned agricultural residential. The board must also decide if the heights of the buildings are acceptable.
If those two considerations are approved, then the owner, Henbell Associates, with an address on Dogwood Drive, Hillsborough, would have to return with detailed architectural and site plans.
There would be 500 parking spaces.
In front, a 72,745-square-foot hard-shell building with a maximum height of almost 52 feet would include four regulation basketball courts, which could be converted to eight volleyball courts.
There would be mezzanine seating overlooking the courts, and a play/climbing and Ninja warrior areas, offices and a café.
In the middle portion would be an 86,400-square-foot dome, inflated year-round, with maximum height of 75 feet.
A 210-by-330-foot all-purpose turf field is in this section. The area could be one field or three, using netting suspended from ceiling. Also in the space are a regulation baseball infield, bleacher seating and equipment storage.
In the rear of the property is a 250-by-93-foot, 35-foot-high dome, also inflated year-round. In this area would be batting and pitching cages, a sprinting track and turf and training areas.
A well is proposed; the area is not serviced by public water. There would be no showers and no washing machines.
Apex would want to connect to a sanitary sewer manhole between the property and the Route 206 bypass; a pump would be needed. A letter from the Somerset Raritan Sewerage Authority says the system has the capacity to accept the facility.
The township Environmental Commission reviewed the plan in December. It said it wants a full environmental impact statement at time of site plan, if the use variance is granted. The commission wants the Board of Adjustment to consider lighting from domes spilling off site, noise from air-handling units, the impact to wetlands and traffic impacts.
It noted the proposed amount of covered land is 52 percent, 550 percent above allowable 8 to 12 percent impervious surface in zone.
A September letter from the state environmental agency defines the wetlands on the property. 